♪♪ Snacks to satisfy your auditory appetite: Leo Season Mid Moon I Playlist ♪♪
- This week started off with Mercury in Cancer opposing Pluto in Capricorn. Man, was it intense. Mercury has been under the rays (within 15 degrees) of the Sun since last week. This has been a trying time for the god of communication, who has already been feeling a bit tender, a bit vulnerable in watery Cancer. On Monday, the 26th, it reached what is called the anaretic degree. The last degree of every sign is ruled over by one of the malefics (Saturn or Mars) and makes the significations of any planet traveling through them pretty raw. We saw this a couple weeks ago when Mercury was finishing up in Gemini. The Mercury-Pluto situation has been scraping the dirt off of some control issues we’ve been trying to keep buried. Good luck. There’s a lot of emotion in Cancer that logical Mercury doesn’t really know how to process, which makes things even more tricky. On August 1, the winged messenger will fly directly into the heart of the Sun after crossing into the sign of Leo where it will regain strength and find some redemption. This day may hold important revelations as well as conversations about the recent power dynamic meltdowns.
- On the 25th, Mars in Leo moved into an opposition with Jupiter… who was in Pisces, but has now retrograded back into Aquarius. They’ll be engaged in this dialogue until August 2. It’s kind of a big one. On July 28, both planets were at the anaretic degree of their respective signs. We know from our experiences with Mercury what this means. I would like to say that it is a turning point, which it most certainly is, but with Jupiter inflating and expanding the fire and fervor of Mars, it feels a little bit like a boiling point. Something’s gotta give. The god of war, at the very end of noble and honorable Leo, in the bounds of its own rulership, is impassioned, dramatic, and ready to fight for a cause, or more likely; simply for the glory of doing battle. (These are very King Richard the Lion Heart and his knights vibes.) Jupiter retrograding through the Mars-ruled degree of equally noble and honorable Aquarius is asking us to re-examine the future we believe should be created and why. We need to take an honest look at our motives before putting our all behind them. Mars is the mercenary, ready to put blood and sweat behind anything that pays. The question we don’t want to find the answer to is; what is the cost of fighting for something that is not truly in alignment?
- July 27 through August 11, the winged messenger will be moving through the sign of Leo. As the Sun (Leo’s ruler) is hanging out there too, Mercury will be working in very leonine ways… which means that we may see the court jester masquerade as the king. There’s a ton of juicy info on Mercury’s voyage through the temple of the lion in my Mercury in Leo post, so be sure to check that out.
- Jupiter took a little vacation in the sign of the fishes, but is now back to business in Aquarius, where it will stay until just about the end of the year. The planet that represents our beliefs and how we make meaning out of life has been retrograde since mid June and won’t turn around until October. This period of time is about coming to a deeper understanding of our own belief systems and how they impact the world that we want to create, all beings included (abiotic or biotic), for better or worse.
- On July 29, Mars began its crusade through Virgo which will last until September 14. Virgo’s ruler, Mercury, will be flying through Leo, Virgo, and Libra during this period, so we can expect the god of war to be fighting for honor, sovereignty, and equality among other things. To learn more about what to expect, head over to my Mars in Virgo post.
- For a few short days, from July 30 to August 3, the Sun in Leo opposes Saturn retrograde in Aquarius. This is an opportunity to revisit ideas about obligations to others and how we balance them against the path that our personal inspiration, passion, and desire to create sets out for us. With retrograde Saturn, we’re looking back, making sure we understand, and finding little gems that we may have missed when the Titan was traveling forward through its home sign (early February to mid-March). In Aquarius, this has to do with social engagements. It’s about how much you give to yourself vs. how much of yourself you give to others. If you have been feeling a drain these past few months, it may be time to place some solid boundaries so that you have the energy and space to follow the storyline that your heart is writing. The Sun is kind of like one of those wormholes from Donny Darko. If we’re paying attention, we can see where our higher selves are leading us.
- Riding the Sun’s coat tails, on July 31, Mercury inserts itself into the opposition with Saturn. So, now we’re seeing some messages come through and some communication being had about the aforementioned Sun-Saturn dynamics. Maybe we’re verbalizing our needs and letting people know where our boundaries are. This is about how that feeling of social obligation and others’ expectations of our participation affects our ability to engage with studying, reading, writing, and integrating information that we are truly called to in the moment.
- Whenever I see an interaction between Venus and Uranus, I just think about new and exciting haircuts… so beware of that. But Uranus in Taurus trine Venus in Virgo (July 31-August 5) is really more about changing the way we worship. Uranus in Taurus reorients how the natural world we live in is viewed and experienced based on what is actually happening now in real time. A trine from the god of revolution in the sign of the bull to lovely Venus in Virgo tells us that this information is informing exactly how we can bring beauty to our rituals and purify our sensual experiences so that they align with the creation of a better world for all. If we keep the temple clean, the prayers that we pray in it can travel more freely and directly to where they are needed and can be of most benefit.
stars in the salad 